THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090030
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Whether Oliver North told the truth to Congress or not may be a matter for political debate. What is abundantly clear, however, is that he did not tell the truth about Norfolk public schools during the Tuesday-evening debate at Hampden-Sydney with the other three senatorial candidates.
North's statement that in Norfolk more students go to parochial schools than go to all the public schools is an outrageous falsehood. We expect to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,000 students enrolled in Norfolk public schools this year. According to student census figures, 10 percent of the school-age population in Norfolk is enrolled in private or parochial schools or engaged in home schooling.
Candidates for public office should be held to strict standards of accuracy and veracity in their public statements. In this instance, and perhaps in others as well, Mr. North falls woefully short of those standards.
GEORGE D. RAISS
Assistant to the superintendent
Director of informational services
Clerk of the School Board
Norfolk public schools
Norfolk, Sept. 7, 1994 by CNB